Tarui hotels from HK$234

"The Mercure at Lake Biwa in Nagahama is a lovely hotel with stunning views. It has the proximity to the Nagahama Castle, train station and historical town as attractions. If you arrive early you can store your luggage easily at the entrance. It is secure storage. You unlock a locker, enter a 4 digit code and switch it to lock. This is very convenient. Check in is a bit heinous. The line is usually long until after 5 pm. But seamless even for a non-Japanese patron. You can wait out the line in the free reception. There are alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and bar snacks. The room is nice but dated. I would not sleep on the foldout couch. Maybe just for children 6-10 years old. The beds are okay but not the most comfortable. They provide basic amenities such as a toothbrush and dispenser shampoo, conditioner, and body soap. However, they do not provide washcloths or body scrubbers. The public bathing area was okay but needed maintenance. Free WiFi with providing your email address is a nice benefit. Now the really bad news… dinner. The hotel has a dinner buffet at ¥9300 per adult! That is a ridiculous price. But they have you hostage. We walked the area around the cultural area park where the hotel is located. We found only one yakatori bar open and it had a 1.5 hour waitlist. You would need to go to the other side of the train station to get dinner. We decided to buy carry out cold food from the grocery on the other side of the train station. 7-11 is a 15 min walk"

"Great location "

"Good"

"Staff was very helpful even though I speak English. The rooms were clean and a bit on the smaller side. Because I stayed longer than expected so I stayed in several rooms and they were all great! I thought that being beside the train station, there would be noise, but only when we opened the windows. "

"The stay we had at Juhachiro was exceptional. A perfect five star experience for any hospitality."

"Two blocks from the train station and the bus terminals, very easy to take a day-trip. The hotel is big and the room is spacious, much large than a typical Japanese hotel's. It is in the area with many restaurants. "

"Clean room! Staff were great! Their spa is sort of tattoo friendly. They will allow tattooed people into their spa area as long as it’s covered. We brought our own tattoo patches to use but they also have them for sale 220 yen per patch. "

"Clean room and friendly staff"

"Clean room and friendly staff"